memorial to the victims of Stalinism

A simple stone stele stands on the north-west corner of Steinplatz in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district. The memorial was raised in 1951 by the Association of Victims of Stalinism, founded the year before by former inmates of Sachsenhausen special camp. Measuring 1.8 metres tall, it is made from a grey-black-and-yellow speckled granite boulder set on a smaller granite pedestal.

The polished front carries bronze letters reading ‘DEN OPFERN DES STALINISMUS’, with a hook beneath for wreaths. After the 1953 uprising in East Berlin people gathered here to remember its victims, and after the Wall went up in 1961 they honoured those divided by the city. Two years later a counterpart for victims of National Socialism appeared on the opposite corner, and together they now form a paired ensemble.

The stone remains a quiet place for reflection. Visitors find the sombre inscription framed by the square’s rebuilt paving and low planting. A second stone was added in 2006 on Friedrichsfelde Cemetery in former East Berlin, opposite the socialist memorial necropolis.